TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) – Pakistan has highlighted the importance of cooperation with Iran in the fight against terrorism, following a deadly attack that killed and injured dozens of people in the country’s Balochistan on Thursday.

In a letter written to the Iranian Embassy on Friday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked for Tehran’s enhanced cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups, especially in the border regions.

Heavily-armed assailants on Thursday shot dead at least 14 Pakistani Navy personnel after pulling them from several passenger buses on the Makran coastal highway between Karachi and the Gwadar port in Balochistan.

Tehran has denounced the heinous terrorist operation and expressed readiness to cooperate with Islamabad regarding the security measures.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi on Friday offered sympathy to the Pakistani government, nation, and army, and the bereaved families of the victims, saying that "terrorism is an ominous phenomenon, which will not be eradicated unless through all-out cooperation among the countries that have fallen victim to it."

He also expressed Tehran’s preparedness for any cooperation with the brotherly government of Pakistan in all intelligence, security, and operational aspects of the fight against terrorism.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also condemned the attack and reaffirmed the Islamic Republic's support for the Pakistani government and nation.

Some media outlets have interpreted Islamabad's request as giving a green light to Tehran to take stronger action against the terrorists who have undermined the region's security and are located at the Pakistani borders.

Back in February, a suicide attack targeted a bus carrying Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel near Zahedan in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province. The attack claimed the lives of 27 people and injured dozens of others.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terror group, which is based across the border in Pakistan, and is also responsible for kidnapping Iranian border guards and carrying out other terrorist attacks of this kind in Zahedan over the past years, claimed responsibility for the attack